Danish politician burned the Quran in front of the Turkish embassy

Swedish-Danish far-right politician Rasmus Paludan organized a protest in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm and burned the Quran.

Photo: Internet

On January 21, a protest took place outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm. The organizer of the protest, the head of the far-right radical movement Stram Kurs (Hard Line) Rasmus Paludan, delivered an anti-Islamic speech and then burned the Quran.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned this action “in the strongest terms.” In response, Turkish authorities canceled the planned visit of Swedish Defense Minister Paul Jonson the following week. The minister was supposed to visit Ankara at the invitation of Defense Minister Hulusi Akar to discuss Sweden’s NATO membership.

Hulusi Akar stated that Ankara views these protests as anti-Turkish and sees no point in continuing the dialogue.

Swedish authorities stated that they approved the event in accordance with freedom of expression laws.

In response, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu stated:

“We condemn in the strongest terms the vile attack on our holy book. It is completely unacceptable to allow this anti-Islamic act, directed against Muslims and insulting our sacred values, under the guise of freedom of speech.”

Photo: Internet

On January 22, protests took place in Turkey in front of the Swedish embassy in Ankara, where participants condemned the actions of the far-right politician.

The confrontation between Turkey and Sweden began after Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ankara set the condition to extradite about 70 members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey considers a terrorist organization.